Aphthous stomatitis is a disorder of the oral cavity that involves the formation of one or more ulcers, which may persist for several weeks leaving scars after healing. Such ulcers may reappear some years later, come back continuously with new lesions, even when previous lesions have not healed. The latter case is called recurrent aphthous stomatitis, and extreme cases may occur when the infection becomes chronic. Aphthous stomatitis affects both genders and, recently, attention has been drawn to the treatment and prevention of this pathology both in healthy patients and those with systemic diseases such as cancer or diabetes, since upon receiving their respective treatment therapies, it has been observed that in around 95% of them, stomatitis with some grade of severity will manifest, thus significantly impairing quality of life.
On the other hand, oral mucositis is an inflammatory disease that weakens oral mucosa, generally manifested as erythema and painful ulcerous lesions in the mouth and, in cases of oropharyngeal mucositis, also affecting the throat and esophagus. It is a common complication in anticancer therapies comprising radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy, and which may occur in up to 60% of average patients receiving such treatments.
Clinically, mucositis progresses through the following stages:                1. Atrophic changes associated with painful erythema of the mucosa, which respond to local anesthetics.        2. Painful ulceration with the formation of pseudomembrane and in cases of myelosuppressive treatment, generalized sepsis may occur, requiring antimicrobial therapy. Generally, the intensity of pain is such that it becomes necessary to apply parenteral analgesia with narcotics.        3. Spontaneous healing, usually occurring 2 to 3 weeks after completing the anticancer therapy.        
Its incidence varies depending on the type of diagnosed tumor and the treatment thereof, the age of the patient, and oral health. Young patients present with higher incidence which may be due to a faster epithelial regeneration, and therefore susceptibility to cytotoxic drugs.
In the case of chemotherapeutic treatments, incidence is related to the choice of such agent. It has been observed that the agents carmustine (BICNU), chlorambucil (Leukeran), cisplatin (Platinol), cytarabine, doxorubicin (Adriamycin), fluorouracil (5-FU), methotrexate (Mexate) and plicamycin (Mithracin), have direct cytotoxic potential, and therefore they have a higher incidence of oral mucositis. The increasing use of aggressive management protocols is also associated with an increased incidence of oral mucositis.
In patients treated with radiotherapy, such as those diagnosed with brain and neck cancer, a daily radiation dose of around 200 cGy is usually given, during 5-7 consecutive weeks. Studies conducted show that almost all of patients will develop some degree of oral mucositis.
Two recent studies showed that in at least 94% to 96% of patients in the control group some degree of oral mucositis was developed (WHO assessment scale). Then, in 66% of patients from both studies, severe oral mucositis equivalent to grades 3 and 4 according to WHO scale was developed.
Currently, there is no universally accepted treatment protocol for the prevention and/or treatment of oral mucositis in patients receiving chemotherapy or radiotherapy, therefore, palliative care for this condition is standard procedure and may include:                Bland rinses, for example, saline solutions 0.9%, solutions of sodium bicarbonate or saline solutions 0.9% in combination with sodium bicarbonate;        Topical anesthetics, for example, viscous compositions, ointments, and sprays comprising lidocaine, sprays or gels comprising benzocaine, 0.5 or 1% dyclonine chloride, or solutions of diphenhydramine;        Mucosal coating agents, for example, suspensions of aluminum hydroxide, bismuth subsalicylate suspensions, products comprising film forming agents, cyanoacrylate        Analgesics such as topical rinses of benzinamida chloride or opioid drugs given orally or intravenously (eg, bolus, continuous infusion), transdermally via patch or transmucosally;        Growth factors, such as keratinocyte growth factor (KGF), also called palifermin.        
Oral mucositis, especially when severe (grade 3-4 according to WHO scale), results in a significant negative impact on the daily and general performance of the patient's mouth, including both communicating and feeding issues. For most patients receiving radiotherapy for brain and neck cancer, oral mucositis causes inability to feed through this via, due to pain of the mucosa and thus, the patient is instructed to feed through gastrostomy tubes or intravenously. Thus it has also been shown that patients with oral mucositis are significantly more likely to have severe pain which can be attributed to the treatment and associated with weight loss.
On the other hand, this condition may compromise the patient's ability to withstand the antineoplastic therapy, requiring radio and/or chemotherapy dose limitation, which may have an influence on an inappropriate therapy for cancer treatment.
For all this, it is desirable to provide new stable compositions useful for the treatment and prevention of mucositis, arid particularly oral mucositis caused by agents for cancer treatment. Likewise, it is required to provide new uses and methods for the treatment and prevention of oral mucositis associated, with cancer treatment.